The Progress Tour Womens Championships

FULL ENTRY LIST NOW AVAILABLE!

The Progress Tour Women's Championships

A player-driven, independent event featuring a group of the highest ranked WTA players in the United Kingdom. The event is aimed at providing British women with a first-class domestic event on home soil, with guaranteed matches and earning opportunities for every competitor.

Player Acceptance -

• The event is open to any British female player currently registered as playing under Great Britain according to 2020 ITF National registration. Full information on acceptance criteria, and singles & doubles order of merit can be found here.
• An official entry list for each of the three events (including alternates), will be released on the Progress Tour website on Friday 19th June at 2pm.

The Events - 

• Singles events will consist of 16 players, split into two separately contested eight player categories - the Premier event & Division 1 event. 
• Doubles event will consist of 8 teams contesting a single Premier event. 
• Across the three events, a maximum of three wild-cards will be reserved to be used at the discretion of the Tournament Director. 
• All matches will be officiated by a chair umpire, but without linesperson or ballkids.

Surface

• Outdoor Acrylic - matches will take place across three offical match courts.

Event Format 

• Each of the three 8 player/team categories, will consist of 2 x 4 Round robin groups, with each player/team competing against all other players/teams in the same group (July 14th - 16th). 
• After completion of the Round robin phase, the 1st & 2nd placed player/team in each group will progress to the Semi-Final & Final phase of their division (July 17 & 18th). 
• For full Round-Robin phase qualification rules, please click here.

Singles Match Format -

• All singles ties will be decided by best of three tie-break sets.

Doubles Match Format -

• Doubles ties will be decided by two tie-break sets, with deciding deuce point, followed by a Championship Tie-break deciding third set.  

NB. In normal cirumstances, a player will play no more than one singles and one doubles match in a day. However, In the event of delays caused by poor weather/unforeseen circumstances, the Tournament Director/Referee has discretion to make changes in schedule/format in order to complete the draws.

Entry/Withdrawal Deadline

• Full Entry List
• Entries will close on Tuesday 16th June at 2pm.
• Entry Fee - £25 per entrant for singles, and £30 (per team) for Doubles. 
• Doubles players enter as a team, and pairs cannot be changed after entry deadline - in the event of a pair withdrawing, the space will be filled by the next pair on the offical entry list. 
• For more detail on withdrawals, please click here.

Entry and withdrawal deadlines for The Progress Tour Women's Championships are one, and the same.  

Any Withdrawals received after this deadline, will not receive a refund of entry fee.

Alternates -

• An acceptance list for each of the three events (including alternates), will be released on the Progress Tour website on Friday 19th June at 2pm.
• For full details on the offical alternates list and withdrawals, please click here.

Player Accommodation

• Player accommodation is available for players on site at the National Tennis Centre. Availability is limited with priority given to travelling players. Please contact the Tournament Director upon entering the event, for further information.

Social Distancing/Safety Measures

• Safety and health are the top priority for the event organisers and The Progress Tour are fully committed to taking all necessary and reasonable steps to ensure the safety of officials and participants, and for the socially responsible operation of the event. The organisers are working closely with the LTA and taking expert advice on health and distancing, and will adapt to ongoing and changing government guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
• There will be no spectators
• There will be no ball kids
• One official per court for umpiring; no linespeople
• There will be three match courts, each separately fenced
• Staggered match times may be used to ensure distancing
• The tournament will have a thorough anti-viral cleaning regimen in place
• The tournament area will be zoned to ensure players, officials, tournament staff will be operating in separate, socially distanced areas. Each zone will have its own entrance
• Organisers will provide anti-viral gel in all player and tournament zones
• Players and officials will not stand together for the coin toss at the start of matches 
• Racket taps will replace handshakes at the end of matches
• A full risk assessment will be carried out 5 days before the event, and a comprehensive player check-list provided to ensure compliance with government advice.

Social Media/Broadcast -

• Upon entering the event, a player agrees for their images to be used to promote this, and other related events. The event will be widely publicised, and may be televised across a number of media platforms. Every player is kindly requested to actively support and promote the event across their social media platforms, and make themselves available for media requests during the event. The event reserves all media rights.

The Draw will take place live across a number of platforms on the evening of Thursday July 9th Time tbc.

Prize Money Breakdown -

The prize fund for The Progress Tour Women's Championships is a minimum of £30,000, and guarantees every competitor with prize money - a full breakdown of the prize money allocation, and rules relating to prize money distribution can be found here.

Player Updates/Information - 

• Comprehensive player information will be released and updated as the event draws closer, including details on access protocols, safety protocols, practice availability, proposed schedules, accomodation, and other information.